ASU's 50 Best Professional Athletes: No. 25 Bob Horner

If you were asked to describe Bob Horner's amateur baseball career in one word it would be: special. The Phoenix native was originally drafted in the 15th round of the 1975 MLB Draft out of Apollo High School by the Oakland Athletics. Horner chose to instead play collegiate baseball for the Arizona State Sun Devils.

All Horner did in his three seasons in Tempe was lead ASU to a National Championship in 1977, become a two-time All-American (1977, 1978) and win the Golden Spikes Award in 1978.

That season, Horner hit.412 with 25 home runs and 100 runs batted in.

Horner was so good after his junior year at ASU that the Atlanta Braves drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick and sent him directly to the major leagues in 1978.

Despite missing roughly half the season, Horner still hit 23 home runs and drove in 63 runs  on his way to winning the Rookie of the Year.

Over the next two seasons, Horner hit 68 home runs, and drove in 187 runs for the Braves. He slugged at least 20 home runs in seven of his 10 professional seasons and finished his major league career with 685 runs batted in.

Horner spent nine of his 10 seasons with the Braves, being named to an All-Star team in 1982 and finishing ninth in the NL MVP voting in 1980 when he mashed a career-high 35 home runs.

After missing the 1987 season, Horner signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1988 for one final major league season. As a 30-year-old he played in just 60 games that season, hitting just three home runs and batting .273.

For his career, Horner played in over 1,000 games, slugged 218 home runs, scored 560 runs and tallied 1,047 hits.

In 2013, Horner was named one of the 50 best college athletes of all time by Sports Illustrated. He was only player from either Arizona State or Arizona to make that list.